Simon Taylor

The European Union's request for comments on an effective way to protect intellectual property in Europe has prompted fears of a renewed attempt to allow software to be patented, after an earlier patents initiative was blocked last year.

The European Commission has given Microsoft Corp. five weeks to comply with its March 2004 antitrust ruling on workgroup server interoperability, or face daily fines of

European Union justice and home affairs ministers agreed on Friday that telecommunications companies and ISPs (Internet service providers) should keep call data for up to two years to enable law enforcement officers to track suspected terrorists.

European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding said on Thursday that she expected

Members of the European Parliament

The European Commission is investigating whether three Asian countries are selling recordable DVDs in Europe at below cost, a practice known as dumping. The Commission is looking at DVD-R (DVD-Recordable) imports from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan following a complaint from the Committee of CD-R Manufacturers (CECMA), which represents the makers of more than 60 per cent DVDs made in the European Union, the Commission said in a statement Friday.

The European Commission took a step to boost the market for Wi-Fi access by requiring all 25 European Union member countries to offer the 5GHz frequency band for wireless services. The Commission, the E.U.'s executive body and main telecommunications regulator, announced that all member states would have to make two frequency bands (5159-5350 MHz and 5470-5725 MHz) available for Wi-Fi Internet services from Nov. 1 this year.

Officials from the European Commission, the executive arm and antitrust watchdog of the European Union, raided the European offices of Intel Corp. and a number of PC manufacturers on Tuesday. Representatives of the Commission and of national competition authorities carried out on-site inspections of several Intel offices and of the offices of an undisclosed number of PC manufacturers.